Of dusting rooms and finding scrolls
by Laughing Jackdaw
Summary: When Sakura is told to clean an old room in the Hokage-tower, she finds all sorts of strange things. Kunai, sake, lots of dust, and a scroll that was not exactly meant to be there. Learning of one story doesn't mean you immediately understand a living legend. Slight KakaRin.


**A/N: Hello those who may concern it, this is my first story, and it's based on some writings I found on my computer, which I had written ages ago. Anyway, I hope you like it, and I hope it's at least a bit understandable.  
I realize the way I formerly updated this was very uncomfortable to read. This time, I hope I did update it in a good kind of format.**

Please, enjoy!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto – which is quite obvious since this is 'Fanfiction'.**

Sakura wrinkled her nose as more dust flew up.  
For some reason Tsunade had decided today would be the best day to clean the room where all the scrolls that were in the Hokage's possession were stored. Of course the Fifth would not do this herself – no, she was too bushy stamping her signature on some 'important' documents that needed immediate attention – and that's why Sakura, complete with duster, mop, hot water and soap, and a kerchief tied securely around her pink hair, was cleaning up the mess that was the place where the real important documents lay. The 'let's-never-look-at-this-stuff-again' kind of important.

The young kunoichi sighed as she took more scrolls from the shelves, which were covered in mountains of dust. She regretted not bringing something to cover her nose and mouth with, breathing in all of this polluting air had to be very unhealthy, and she did not fancy some kind of damage to her lungs.  
But she did not fancy the wrath of her master either – and if she didn't hurry up and finished this job before nightfall, she would be the single target of said rage. It was such a shame Naruto left on some kind of petty mission, because now she had to do this awful work all alone. Moments of silence and annoyance like these reminded Sakura why she liked working with a couple of people. It's terrible when there's no one to talk to when you really need to vent.

Speaking about venting, perhaps she could open a window after she cleaned this shelf?  
"Ouch!" Sakura retreated her hand as she cut herself with a stray kunai, which was hidden between a bunch of smelly – don't forget dusty – papers.

"Why would this even be here? Who the hell would place – Oh my -!" She removed some more papers from the spot, letting them flutter to the ground. Someone must've thought the unused room where all the boring old documents go would make an excellent place to stash away a pile of kunai.

Great.

Sakura braced herself, and she removed the rusty old weapons from its hiding place. There was a total of _twenty_kunai hidden in there. Irked, the pink-haired girl looked down at the pile of weapons when she dropped the last one. With a loud clank, metal clashed with metal, and the pile of small knives scattered.

She bowed to pick them up – even though the kunai were dirty, they did not look too damaged, and maybe she could use them, it was not like the owner would be returning to get them back. The scrolls and papers that covered the stack were at least ten years old, and other scrolls from more recent dates had littered the front of the shelf.

She put away the dull weapons in her pouch and took her duster. As she started utilizing her 'cleaning weapon' more dust filled the air, and for a little while, Sakura did nothing but coughing and sneezing.

Perhaps opening the window would be a great idea now.

As the window opened, she took a gulp of fresh air. Sunlight filtered though the whirling dust, showing just how many of the matter was in the air, and she really, really did not look forward to cleaning.

In the three hours she was working on this room, she cleaned less than a quarter of the place, and had found ten frilly ribbons, a secret hiding place filled with sake (again), and the kunai.

And this room was freaking _disgusting_.

Never before had Sakura encountered this much dust, and the papers were not properly taken care of – some had even started rotting, which was absolutely awful.

"I swear, if Tsunade-sama ever has another 'good idea' like this, I'll make her do this herself, consequences be damned!" she growled.  
Finally she realized what Izumo and Kotetsu had to go through, and she felt sorry for the two chuunin.

Sakura breathed in the fresh air by the window one more time. She checked the tightness of the knot of her kerchief, sighted sadly, and went back to work.

Hours went by, and by now she had finished almost half of the room. Smelly papers, empty papers splotched with ink, half-burnt scrolls and other damaged documents were all piled up together in the left corner, near the opened door.  
Clouds of dust were seen in waves in the hallway, and some visitors of the Hokage-tower stared puzzling at the growling, threatening pink-haired lady who was venomously cleaning the room.

Genma once tried making a joke about the cleaning as he walked by, and Sakura went into rage-mode, almost smashing his head with her mop. By now, most of the passersby knew not to mess with her.

Thank the gods Naruto wasn't here, or he probably would've been dead hours ago.

* * *

"What's this?" Sakura asked herself. A large, beautifully decorated scroll – with a thick green cord – was placed in the back of the highest shelf on the right wall of the room. This thing was, of course, covered in a layer of dust, but unlike the other scrolls she had encountered before, this one looked pretty official. It looked _important_, really.

She wiped off some of the dust, and was surprised by the way the paper felt. It was old, yet smooth. She toyed a bit with the cord, wondering how such a nice looking document could be lost in a room filled with things that were to be forgotten.

In an impulse, the pink-haired medic closed the door, sat down underneath the window, and opened the scroll.  
She was fully aware she was not allowed to look into official scrolls – especially when they had some kind of political message within, or some kind of forbidden jutsu – but her curiosity was peeked, and she was feeling up for a little mischievousness, '_Hey, I am allowed to have fun, right? Tsunade-sama never told me I wasn't allowed to read the unimportant scrolls. Besides, I may consider this part of my payment – Hell yeah, I'm gonna have a look!'  
_  
To her surprise, the scroll did not contain any words; the first thing she saw was a drawing of a young man with a red scarf.  
She blinked a few times. Slowly, she unrolled the scroll.

It was filled with drawings.

The drawings looked complicated and were very detailed, even the patterns of the clothing were fully drawn. This was a masterpiece, a real work of art!

'_Why would something as beautiful as this be cast aside, be left to rot? I don't get it…'_

She sneezed a few times, even inside the scroll dust had gathered. How bothersome. _  
_As Sakura looked better, she noticed the characters in the scroll were reoccurring. Perhaps it was a story – her father had told her that sometimes stories were not written down, but drawn, like the legends of old.

She bit her lip and looked back at the first picture of the young man.  
The man was pictured with a long red scarf, and held a katana in his hand. His hair was inked with a blue-gray, and he had a serene smile on his face. A dark gi and hakama gave the character a samurai-like appearance.

The second picture was one of the same man kneeling in front of a small deep-red shrine.  
In the next picture was a woman too. Brown hair and soft brown eyes stared at Sakura. It was almost as if she was real. The woman wore a traditional kimono, and two stripes of red and two of purple were added to her cheeks. For some reason, this almost looked like whiskers, and the pink-haired kunoichi couldn't help but think of Naruto.

Suddenly, it all downed upon her – this thing, this scroll filled with drawings, it reminded her of Sai's picture-book.

This scroll too told a story, the story of two people.

With a sudden movement, she rolled out the scroll immediately to look at the last drawings. This time, the man was alone again, and he wasn't smiling. Small strikes of red covered the painted katana. The last drawing was one of the man standing behind the shrine, a sad look on his painted face.  
Looking back at the middle of the scroll, she saw the woman lying on her back, and the man struggling in the wind, which had been indicated by the strokes of blue, white and gray.

"Not so very long ago, there was someone who fell in love with a pure being."

A voice startled Sakura, who almost dropped the precious scroll. In the doorframe Tsunade-sama was standing, looking at her with a soft smile on her face.

"You found a very special manuscript, Sakura. I thought it had been destroyed long ago." The Fifth continued, "Shall I tell you a story?"

The young kunoichi nodded numbly. The older woman pushed away some littering papers and sat down next to her. With one elegant finger, she pointed at the first drawing, "Like I said before, once there was a man who fell in love with someone out of his reach."

Tsunade moved to the second drawing, "He was a man of death, while she was a woman who gave life."

"But she liked him too, perhaps she loved him even more than he loved her. Though they were very different, they were at peace."

"After a unknown time, the woman fell ill, and no one knew how to cure her. She was a healer, and knew her time was over. The man didn't want to hear anything about it. Even though it seemed hopeless, he set out on a journey to find a cure. The village he called home told him not to go, but after the elders gave him their blessing, he went on his way. On his journey he faced many hardships."

Tsunade skipped a few drawings and gingerly placed her finger on top of the one in the middle. It was a picture of the man kneeling in front of another, wealthy-looking man. The beautiful details were striking. Flowery patterns, a throne inked with a yellow that looked like gold in the dim light of the setting sun. It was amazing.

"In the end, he did find a cure. After begging the daimyo of the faraway country, they let him leave with the drug that should heal the woman."

"But when he returned," Tsunade sighed, "the woman was gone. No one had seen her die, she just left. Maybe it was to die somewhere else, maybe it was not. No one really knows. The man, all alone in the harsh world, became bitter, and turned into a lost spirit who looks for someone to protect."

In the last drawing, Sakura noted that the red scarf the man wore thorough the story, was torn. The black lines also inclined it had been burnt away.

"That's so sad…" Sakura whispered, "…but it's beautiful. It's…" she was at loss for words.

Tsunade smiled sympathetically, "Well, you had an exhausting day kiddo, perhaps you should go home."

The blonde woman took the large scroll and convolved it. Sakura shook her head, "I'm not done with the room yet…" She wanted an explanation of some sort, wanted to know more. If this story was indeed like Sai's…

"Go home, it's an order."

The pink-haired medic sighed deeply and hoisted herself up. She really was tired, both physically and mentally. A good night of sleep would be nice.

* * *

The next morning, Sakura asked her master about the scroll she found the previous day, but the blonde woman refused to tell her where it was.

If only Sakura had looked more closely at her silver-haired teacher, she would've noticed him burning a certain scroll on the training-grounds as she passed by with the just returned Naruto and Sai.

But she hadn't noticed, because Kakashi was easily one to be overlooked after all.

* * *

_He just didn't understand why Rin left, or why she never came back._

_He found out she had never really been ill, and he was confused. He didn't like not knowing things, especially not when it concerned his precious people._  
_How the wealthy daimyo of Tea-country found out what happened was still a mystery, and the scroll he send to him was a pain. It was a painful reminder of his failure._  
_Sandaime-sama promised him to destroy the scroll, even though it was a stunning gift which was probably worth a large sum of money, but he didn't care._

_He just wanted it gone._

_When Tsunade-sama presented the scroll he thought was gone, he didn't believe it at first. And he certainly didn't like it._  
_With a well-aimed fire-jutsu, the paper burnt and the story disappeared with it._  
_Kakashi stood in the grass, looking at the ash that was left._

_He didn't like not knowing what happened to Rin._

* * *

'The man, all alone in the harsh world, became bitter, and turned into a lost spirit who looks for someone to protect.' The man had found new precious people to protect, and as Kakashi watched Sakura, Naruto and Sai pass by, he couldn't help but smile and think he was lucky.

**End.**

**A/N: I hope you liked it.  
I do realize this story is plain weird, and confusing for those who are not me…  
If there's anything I could do better in the future, please let me know. Feel free to point out spelling mistakes and grammatical errors – English is not my native language, and I'd love to learn more.  
Those who did not fully understand what was going on, I apologize. I hope I did not waste too much of your precious time on Fanfiction.  
~ I hope you enjoyed yourself at least a bit!**


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